News
Bloomberg | Retail Sales in U.S. Climb Excluding Auto Dealers
Retail sales in the U.S. outside of auto dealers climbed in September, indicating households were sustaining the economic expansion before the government shutdown shook confidence.
WSJ | Unemployed Jersey Boys
One reason most states in the Northeast keep losing ground to other parts of the country is that politicians keep thinking they can suspend the basic laws of economics. This is the region with the highest tax rates, the heaviest regulatory burden and now the highest minimum wages. New York recently raised its minimum wage to $9 in 2016 from the federal rate of $7.25, and waiting in line is New Jersey.
Bloomberg | Coffee Heads for Longest Slump Since 1972 on Brazil Crop Outlook
Coffee futures headed for the worst rout in more than four decades as wet weather signaled bigger crops than forecast in Brazil, the world’s largest grower.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Daily Caller | The shale revolution is remaking our economic future
The revolution in shale drilling is transforming the U.S. from a major fuel importer to a major exporter of oil and natural gas. In fact, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that the U.S. is about to overtake Russia as the number one producer of oil and gas in the world.
WSJ | Economic Failure Causes Political Polarization
It is a common view that the shutdown, the debt-limit debacle and the repeated failure to enact entitlement and pro-growth tax reform reflect increased political polarization. I believe this gets the causality backward. Today's governance failures are closely connected to economic policy changes, particularly those growing out of the 2008 financial crisis.
Washington Times | The heavy price of regulations
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed onerous new limits carbon-dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. The standards would prevent construction of new facilities, gradually close older ones and, eventually, affect even gas-fired units.
Politico | Seize moment on entitlement reform
With the twin debacles of a government shutdown and a debt limit showdown behind us for a mere three months, we have little time before we face the prospect of yet another manufactured meltdown in the early days of 2014. Unfortunately, Congress is currently scheduled to be in session for only a small fraction of those days, given the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year holiday breaks.
Bloomberg | China Can’t Talk Its Way Out of Slowing Growth
If imitation really is the greatest form of flattery, Shinzo Abe should be thrilled the Chinese are copying his “Abenomics” strategy to excite investors. The rest of the world shouldn’t be.
Washington Times | Throw the rascals out
Polls indicate that the public is so disgusted with Washington politicians of both parties that a surprisingly large proportion of the people would like to get rid of the whole lot of them.
AEI | Getting used to anemic growth
If the government shutdown really did slow the U.S. economy, it was an encumbrance on an already lethargic growth rate. New data suggest real GDP grew just 1.8 percent or so the past three months. For the year, says Goldman Sachs, it’s shaping up to be an anemic 1.6 percent.
Blogs
WSJ | Global Regulation Curbing Growth, World Bank Finds
Many emerging markets have dramatically improved their business climates in the last year, but a tangle of onerous regulations the world over is curbing much-needed growth from the private sector, the World Bank said in a new report published late Monday.
